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A monumental building, filled to the brim with treasures of Dutch art and history. Tenderly carved sculptures of Saints, great altar pieces of important masters and art of the Golden Age in all its facets, dating from a period when it was hard to surpass artists of the Netherlands in their productivity and their quality.

This and much more can be admired during a guided tour in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The internationally famous core of the museum is formed by the Gallery of Honour (eregalerij). Here and in the neighbouring rooms, highlights of Dutch art can be admired, with Rembrandt's Nightwatch as the superb eyecatcher at the end of the hall. Exploring the Rijksmuseum is a must for Amsterdam visitors. Make some time to visit this immense treasury of Dutch art and history. The best way to do this is with a (private) tour guide who leads you along the highlights of Dutch art, familiarizing you with details worth knowing about the Golden Age of the Netherlands - the baroque period in the 17th century - and introducing you to some of Europe's most important artworks - paying close attention to your personal questions and wishes.

Guided museum tour in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

The large collection of old master paintings in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam comprises quite some works by Rembrandt van Rijn, made in different periods of the carreer of this most famous of all Dutch painters of the Golden Age. Hardly any other painter can fascinate us as much as Rembrandt does. That is why Kukullus offers a guided tour in the Rijksmuseum that focusses on paintings by Rembrandt and his private as well as artistic environment.

Rembrandt grew up in the Dutch city of Leiden where he visited the Latin school and even enregistered in the university. After his apprenticeship with the painter Jacob van Swanenburgh in Leiden and some months with Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam, he started his own workshop in Leiden. In this period, he worked closely together with his friend and colleague Jan Lievens, a "child prodigy" as a painter, with whom he even might have shared a studio. The Rijksmuseum presents some interesting works by Lievens and Rembrandt of this early period, currently (2017) even augmented by some loans from the Museum Lakenhal in Leiden that is closed for renovation at the moment.

At the age of 25, Rembrandt moves to booming Amsterdam, a commercial city of international importance. Here he soon gains sympathies of exalted clients who ordered their portrait from him. During this museum tour, we can explore some exceptional paintings from this period.

Guided tour - Rembrandt as artist and as a person

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam houses breathtaking treasures from the period before the so called Golden Age - that glorious era in which Dutch art flourished like never before. This guided museum tour takes you to beautiful works of art that were created in the centuries before, in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Skilled sculptors made touching pieces, often from wood. When they worked with stone, the works were often intended for the decoration of religious buildings, like the cathedral (Dom) of Utrecht as one of the major construction projects of its time. Magnificent altar pieces in beautiful colors also adorned churches and monasteries. Civilians, too, ordered artworks, to be used for private worshiping in their houses. Some of them even were self-assured (and prosperous) enough to have their own portraits painted.

In the 16th century, Dutch artists got to know new artistic developments in Italy - a period that we call Renaissance. In southern Italy, this era of renewal of the arts flourished earlier than it did in the North. But also northern artists soon were captivated by the innovations that were put into practice in by Italian artists. Some Dutch painters even traveled south themselves and brought back home first-hand experience. Like Jan van Scorel, one of the most important Renaissance painters of the Netherlands, who was active in Utrecht most of his lifetime. The painter and engraver Lucas van Leyden was fascinated by the work of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. And he himself became one of the leading figures for Renaissance art in the Netherlands.

Nothing less than the best for your business guests and clients. You offer high end services or products, so when you want to surprise your business relations, anything less than the best is not good enough. And the very finest examples of Dutch art can be found in the Rijksmuseum.

Show your guests that you care about a high level of quality. Book an individual museum tour for them when they come to visit you in the Netherlands. This way you not only make it clear how much you appreciate them. But also that you find yourself rather special and you are only satisfied with highest quality.

The 'crème de la crème' for your business relations

A Kukullus guided museum tour can be adapted to individual wishes or specific preferences of the participants. And the tour can also be extended, for example by a city walk, perhaps finishing at a location for some drinks afterwards, to discuss your experiences in a casual and relaxed environment.

No artwork confronts us as directly as a portrait and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam possesses plenty of them. Enough reason to offer a thematic museum tour on the subject of portraits and self portraits in this museum. The portraits on display here vary from tiny and personal to life size and huge. The portrayed sitters can be private citizens or national heroes. Some can not even be called sitters because their portrait was painted posthumously. Some portraits are adorned by highly symbolic elements and often enough not all of the pictorial riddle has been solved yet. Others seem to be naturalistic sketches or studies of facial expression. Even some truly amazing sculpted portraits are exhibited in the museum.

Confronting look into the soul

Why did people have their effigy painted ages ago? For some like the aristocracy and wealthy merchants, it was a matter of social status. Marital portraits give us insights into the values that bride and groom attached to an ideal marriage and to family relations. Portraits of statesmen in historical scenes can be characterised as propaganda. Also artists themselves were portrayed, which provides us with interesting information about the perception of the artists' profession by their contemporaries. What they all have in common is the urge to leave behind an image of their own appearance - something we are still familiar with today.

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